The dispatcher tried to reason with the nurse and tried to persuade her to give the phone to someone who felt free to start the life-saving procedure.

The transcript of the conversation between dispatcher and the nurse seems oddly revealing:

“Is there anybody that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die?”

“Not at this time,” the nurse responded.

“I don’t understand why you’re not willing to help this patient.”

“I am, but, I’m just saying that….”

The dispatcher said the city EMS would take responsibility if that was the issue.

Her words suggest that she was detached from what was happening, even in her overheard comment to another person nearby: “I’m feeling stressed.”

Although the woman was trained as a nurse, she’s not employed as one. She’s the resident services director at a facility which does not provide medical services to residents.

The transcript suggests to us that she was genuinely frightened of the consequences of performing a medical procedure in a place with a policy against doing so.

It appeared that her fear of reprisal for taking action won out any desire she might have had to help a dying person.

The matter is being investigated by the city’s police department and by the company that owns the facility. A spokesman said the nurse’s inaction was the result of a “complete misunderstanding of our practice.”

One medical ethicist who has weighed in on the incident said the nurse is “confused about where their ethical north star is.”

He’s right. Her ethical compass had a 180-degree ambiguity. It was pointing south.